Linguistics Conf on Southeast Asian Language at UCLA

[Shoichi Iwasaki]

UC Berkeley & UCLA JOINT CONFERENCE on SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES


CALL FOR PAPERS

LANGUAGES OF SOUTHEAST ASIA

January 30 - February 1, 2009

Keynote speakers:
Bernard Comrie (Max Planck / University of California, Santa Barbara)
Andrew Simpson (University of Southern California)
John Hartmann (Northern Illinois University)

The linguistic map of Southeast Asia is extraordinarily rich, embracing a 
wide range of ethnic and typological groups, including Austronesian, 
Hmong-Mien, Mon-Khmer, Tai-Kadai, Tibeto-Burman, and many language families 
of New Guinea. The shifting boundaries of Southeast Asian polities over 
time, historic cross-regional migration, and colonization have all added to 
the complexity of language genealogies in the region, making Southeast Asia 
a particularly fertile field not only for the study of specific language 
types and groups but also for the testing and development of theoretical 
frameworks and models of linguistic analysis. Recent outward migrations to 
the USA, Europe and elsewhere, and the concomitant rise in Hmong, Khmer, 
Lao, Tagalog and other heritage language groups, present further 
opportunities for the study of Southeast Asian languages.

Despite the critical place of language studies in the development of area 
studies, and the diverse implications and applications of linguistics for 
other fields, the conversation between scholars of Southeast Asian 
linguistics and specialists in Southeast Asian area studies is surprisingly 
thin. And, within the U.S., Southeast Asian language communities such as 
Hmong, Khmer, Vietnamese, Lao and Tagalog risk being sidelined in the 
emerging body of scholarship on Heritage Language learning and teaching, 
whose focus gravitates towards larger communities such as Spanish and 
Chinese speaking communities.

This conference aims to bridge this gap. By providing a forum for 
presentations of new research and the exchange of ideas, we aim to create 
fresh conversations between scholars and teachers of Southeast Asian 
languages.  Building on the 2000 UCLA Conference on Heritage Language 
Research Priorities, we also hope to stimulate new research linkages with 
scholars and teachers working among Heritage language communities.

We invite papers on Southeast Asian languages in any area of 
linguistics-phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, 
typology, diachronic and comparative linguistics, sociolinguistics, 
anthropological linguistics, discourse analysis, conversation analysis-or 
language teaching. We particularly encourage papers that engage with other 
disciplines.  Submissions from early career researchers and graduate 
students are strongly encouraged. In addition, a special poster session for 
undergraduate research will be held. Limited competitive financial 
assistance for travel is available.

Abstracts of no more than 500 words should be sent to the UCLA Center for 
Southeast Asian Studies <cseas at international.ucla.edu> by Monday, November 
3, 2008. Please indicate whether the submission is for a talk or for the 
undergraduate poster session. Notification of acceptance will be sent out by 
December 1, 2008.


For more info please contact:
Barbara Gaerlan
310-206-9163
cseas at international.ucla.edu